Paris SG are “currently talking” about a contract extension for their superstar Lionel Messi, whose lease ends in June, confirmed the Parisian club’s football advisor Luis Campos, assuring he was “very pleased” that the Argentine could “continue” with PSG.
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“We’re in talks. I can’t hide that, I would like to have him in this project so that he can continue with us, ”said the Portuguese leader in an interview with Téléfoot magazine, broadcast by French channel TF1 on Sunday.
“I’d be happy if he continues, but at the moment we’re talking about trying to achieve the goal of keeping Leo Messi with us,” he continued.
At 35, the seven-time Ballon d’Or must decide what his future holds, just weeks after finally achieving the grail of a coronation at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Messi joined Paris for two seasons (plus one optional) in 2021 after spending his entire professional career at FC Barcelona.
Campos welcomed the small Argentinian forward’s involvement in the Paris project, citing his Ligue 1 (3-1) performance in Montpellier on Wednesday as an example.
“At half-time I said to him: ‘Leo, you have to train with everyone else’, he said: ‘calm’ and he had an outstanding second half of the season,” said the PSG sports advisor.
Messi’s form, who was still a goalscorer against Toulouse (2-1) on Saturday, is good news for Paris ahead of their European Cup match against Bayern Munich on February 14, which will see Kylian Mbappé absent through injury.
“Losing Kylian is obviously difficult, I saw him very sad about his injury,” Campos commented close to the striker.
“But I then saw him work from morning to speed up his recovery as much as possible, it’s the personality of a winner, a very special person. He’s already the best striker in the world.”
Without him, PSG would have needed reinforcements in the transfer window but Moroccan Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea)’s loan deal could not be validated in time.
“We had the player with us, we did everything, but as with all player transfers, we need all three parts to work well. (…) Unfortunately, it didn’t work out with the other party (Chelsea) at the last moment,” Campos regretted .